Zenon's Game Chapter 140

I'm getting more and more convinced that the basketball team gossips more than any other group I know.

"Knows what?" Joe asked, playing with his calculator. He really wanted to get back to math.

"That Zenon and Candace are dating."

Joe gasped.

"OK, fine. Now everyone knows," Cynthia corrected herself.

"Candace, you're dating Zenon?" Joe stared at me earnestly, "But he's..."

"Fast?" Zenon supplied.

I elbowed Zenon again. He was teasing Joe.

But then I thought about it. Maybe Zenon just didn't want to hear someone say why we were incompatible.

"Does Kaden know?" Joe asked me.

Sensitive subject.

"Who?" Jake asked, having listened to Cynthia's story with intrigue.

"Candace's ex-boyfriend and another one of us geeks," Joe answered, referencing how Zenon had identified them, "And who are you?"

"Zenon's half-brother."

"Seems full sized to me."

Between Cynthia and Jake, I now understood why today was so unusual. Zenon didn't seem too surprised or worried.

"People were always going to find out, Candy," he told me, after the others had left. We were standing away from the main hallways and I was looking blatantly scared, "We were never sneaking around."

"I guess I felt like everyone already knew and this was it," I admitted, feeling his familiar hands gently rub my arms, "I thought I could enjoy all the good side of us dating, and forget about what anyone else was thinking."

I know I'm insecure, but tell me who isn't?

The loudest people, saying "I'm confident", are ones I believe even less. At least during high school, when we're forced to compare ourselves against everyone.

"How can Roger be murdered and that be just the beginning?" I asked, "All of this trauma has happened before everyone knew about us."

"Roger's the cat, right?" Zenon checked.

I didn't answer. We held a funeral in Roger's honor and Zenon still can't fully remember that.

"We'll find Roger's killer," Zenon said, "That kind of sh*t doesn't go unpunished."

"I came over to your place yesterday," I said, "I wanted to see you and speak to you."

"Now you have me," he answered and smiled. A smile that was contagious and disarming and he knew it, "What did you want to ask?"

I see how he gets away with everything.

I thought about it. And again, I don't have a good reputation of phrasing this well...

"About going to college and the jakehouse."

There was a pause.

Zenon said, "Did you just say the jake house?"

"Hmm?"

"Candace," Zenon repeated, tilting his head, "did you call my lakehouse the jake house?"

"Is that somewhere you're going to this weekend?"

"Are you diverting the question here?"

"Are you going to college next year?"

Zenon smirked, "You're trying to make us rhyme."

I gave him a kiss on the cheek.

He knew me and we knew how to switch gears to taking things lightly.

Our whole relationship began by us teasing each other. Him seeing me pack an iron for a trip in the woods or me seeing him check himself out one too many times.

My mistake for calling the lakehouse the jake house...

And his mistake for not telling me about that or about college...

"OK," he decided we should talk in a quiet place. He opened the lab door and looked inside for the first time, "Hey, we have a computer lab."

He looked surprised. Did he think it was a supply closet?

Three people were inside, typing away on the computers. They looked up and were surprised to see Preston Oakes' basketball star at the door.

"Get out," Zenon told them.

"What? Zenon don't tell them to..." I started to argue, but then I saw them all sign off, grab their bags and walk out.

Zenon strolled into the room, chucking his jacket over a chair. He folded his arms across his broad chest and said, "Who knew we had a computer lab?"

The door shut after the last person left, looking especially grumpy after being forced to stop playing Counter-Strike.

Zenon sat in a chair, swinging casually as he leaned back. "So my mom says thank you. For that pink mug."

I awkwardly sat down in a chair next to him. "Uh, you're welcome."

"She also told me you came by yesterday," he added, looking much more relaxed than me, "And that she told you about my college situation."

"Yeah," I nodded, staring at the gray carpet, "You got into college. I didn't know, it's so early in the year."

"D1 basketball has early admissions," he answered, "I got a letter of intent from the University of Kentucky."

Kentucky. My first thought wasn't KFC. But I am hungry.

I knew Zenon was carefully watching my reaction. Maybe he expected me to melt into the floor at the thought of him moving state, but all I could think of was congratulations.

"Congratulations! Isn't that a really good school for basketball?" I asked.

Now that we were inches from a computer, I was very tempted to sign on and google Kentucky basketball. I don't really know anything about this sport, and yet it was suddenly becoming such an important part of my life right now.

"It is," he nodded, "It's my dad's dream school."

"Congratulations," I repeated, "That's incredible news."

I wanted to ask him what his dream school was.

"Thank you, Candy," he smiled, "I'm glad you're proud of me."

"I am," I stretched my foot to touch his, "You deserve this. It's amazing news!"

"It is," he nodded, "If I sign that letter, it's binding. I commit myself to that school and I don't get to consider anything else."

"Do you want to consider something else?"

He shrugged, "I don't know. It's a big decision."

I had a question. And it wasn't why didn't you tell me.

"Why don't you seem happy?" I asked him.